Cannes: Settling In

So I have officially been in Cannes for a little over 72 hours now. I surprisingly haven’t felt any jet lag yet. Though the first day I was incredibly tired but I think that was more do to the fact that I hadn’t slept in close to 3 days thanks to nerves and a super uncomfortable plane seat. But enough about that and more about Cannes…

When I chose this place to study abroad I picked it because I knew it was coastal and full of beaches and palm trees and would be pretty. But WOAH! I had no idea just how amazingly beautiful it would be here. The mixture of old traditional European homes with the Alps capped in snow on one side the beach that stretches for miles on the other side. It is literally like looking at a postcard every second of the day.

The school itself is amazingly beautiful. It was a church a hundred plus years ago. The classes are going well and the people are nice here. I definitely have been experiencing some culture shock, just because I know so little French and so little English is spoken here. It’s been difficult. The faculty and staff at the school don’t even speak much if any English to you and when you arrive just off a plane exhausted and missing luggage (don’t worry the airline found it a few hours later) it’s impossible to not feel the culture shock and slightly overwhelmed. But it’s an unique experience that I’m grateful to partake in.

Yesterday after getting a much needed night sleep I walked a good portion of the town taking in all it’s beauty and put my feet in the Mediterranean Sea. I also walked back up to the port with some classmates in the evening to enjoy an lovely dinner. The food here has been good not amazing but enjoyable. It’s the bread though that just wows me. Every meal; breakfast, lunch, dinner…there’s bread. And it’s always incredible. The thing I find quite different is that the coffee in the morning is served in a big cereal bowl and the French people at the school all dip their bread in the coffee. I haven’t been tempted to try that but I don’t mind a giant portion of delicious coffee when I first wake up so I’ve just been drinking it out of the bowl.

Today I started booking my weekend adventures. When these 10 weeks are up I want to say I’ve done way more than just learn French. In case I never make it back to Europe I want to say I’ve seen as much as possible. This weekend I’ll head up to Paris with a girl from the school here and we are going to Euro Disney! I’m so excited Mickey and the Eiffel Tower all in one weekend!! Next weekend I’ll take on Venice. Then in April I booked Greece for Orthodox Easter, Rome and Barcelona. I want to make one more big adventure but I haven’t nailed down where I want to go yet so I’ll wait on booking that one. The weekends that I haven’t booked anything I’ll use to either take a train to a city or town nearby or just relax in town.

I posted some pictures from my walk around Cannes yesterday and I’ll be sure to post next week with more photos and stories from my Paris adventure! Till then bonne soirée!